Olive is one of those characters that makes you want to climb into the pages of the book and hug. Olive is a twelve year old girl whose best and only friend dumps her in favor of a more popular friend. To make matters worse, she also turns on Olive and becomes intent on making Olive the second biggest outcast in her grade. To deal with her isolation, Olive invents an imaginary twin named Pip and finally Olive has a true friend, because honestly, she's better off without her former best friend.

What makes this book so powerful, from an adult's point of view, is that Olive is a very bright, talented and caring child. She is picked on simply because she's a little behind the other girls who have gone full speed into the notion of growing up. It's a particularly strong message in a world where kids are ever pressured to mature before they are probably ready. As a reader, you want so badly to tell her there's nothing wrong with her. In that way, it reminded me a lot of E.L. Konigsburg's Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth... but considerable less somber. Kim Kane does a wonderful job of keeping this story fun while still hitting the emotion keys just right.

An interesting side-note: Though I love the cover art, it seems oddly cheerful for the book and for a younger audience than the actual story is for.